Surfperch

{{Short description|Family of ray-finned fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Late Miocene|present}}

| image = Embiotoca lateralis (juvenile).jpg

| image_caption = Striped surfperch, Embiotoca lateralis

| taxon = Embiotocidae

| authority = Agassiz, 1853

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision_ref = {{FishBase family | family = Embiotocidae| month = April | year = 2013}}

| subdivision = * Amphistichus

• Brachyistius
• Cymatogaster
• Ditrema
• Embiotoca
• Hyperprosopon
• Hypsurus
• Hysterocarpus
• Micrometrus
• Neoditrema
• Phanerodon
• Rhacochilus
• Zalembius
• {{extinct}}Eriquius

}}

The surfperches are a family of percomorph fishes, the Embiotocidae. They are mainly found in northeast Pacific Ocean (as far south as Baja California), but a few species (genera Ditrema and Neoditrema) are found in the northwest Pacific, and the tule perch is found in freshwater habitats in California, United States.{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Family: EMBIOTOCIDAE, Surfperches |url=https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/sftep/en/thefishes/taxon/1599 |website=Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute}} The largest species in the family, are the barred surfperch (Amphistichus argenteus) which reaches up to {{convert|49.5|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} and {{convert|2.15|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, and the rubberlip surfperch (Rhacochilus toxotes) which grows to {{convert|47|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} and {{convert|2.25|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.{{Cite web |date=2017-03-14 |title=Rubberlip Seaperch |url=https://www.pierfishing.com/rubberlip-seaperch/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Pier Fishing in California |language=en-US}}

They are viviparous fishes, in which the embryo is nourished directly by the mother, as well as the yolk. This gives the family its scientific name, from Greek embios meaning 'persistent' and tokos meaning 'birth'. This means the mother fish gives live birth instead of laying eggs.

The only known fossil member of the family is Eriquius from the Late Miocene of California.{{Cite journal |last=Longo |first=Gary |last2=Bernardi |first2=Giacomo |date=2015-07-01 |title=The evolutionary history of the embiotocid surfperch radiation based on genome-wide RAD sequence data |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790315000962 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=88 |pages=55–63 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2015.03.027 |issn=1055-7903}}{{Cite book |last=California Academy of Sciences |url=https://archive.org/details/occasionalpaper00calif/occasionalpaper00calif/ |title=Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences |date=1890 |publisher=San Francisco : California Academy of Sciences |others=California Academy of Sciences}}